New details emerge in Duke ADPhi sexual assault claim

New details have come to light regarding the sexual assault claim against Alpha Delta Phi—indicating that a freshman female student was possibly drugged and taken from a party to a senior fraternity member's apartment, where she may have been raped.

Additional warrants were released in the case this week, showing that the Durham Police Department's Special Victims Unit took DNA samples and phone records from six students affiliated with the fraternity, three senior members and three freshmen pledges. The phone records of the freshman female student's roommate were also collected.

After attending an ADPhi party earlier this month, the freshman woke up in her dorm room the next afternoon—wearing a t-shirt she did not recognize without her bra or underwear from the night before. She had no memory of most of her evening, and went to Duke University Medical Center for a rape kit because she suspected that she may have been the victim of nonconsensual sex. Now, phone records show that she likely left the party with a senior member of the fraternity—hereafter referred to as Student #1—around 3:30 a.m. and was taken to his apartment, before he returned her to her dorm about an hour later.

No charges have been filed in the investigation. The case file has been locked by DPD while the investigation continues, though the warrants are public record and list the names of the students involved. There are no charges and no arrests have been made. At this time, The Chronicle is not publishing the students' names.

Alpha Delta Phi has been suspended by the University as DPD investigates the case.

The evening of the party

The freshman woman arrived at an Alpha Delta Phi party at an off-campus residence leased by brothers of the fraternity around 10:45 p.m. the evening of Friday, Jan. 8. She had one drink, a cup of Aristocrat and Lime, and began talking with a senior member of the fraternity, hereafter referred to as Student #2.

"He wanted to show her where his room was as he led her upstairs," the warrant reads. "She said she refused to go in the room and went back downstairs."

The female student returned downstairs and was dancing with her friends when she was told that the fraternity had begun making hot chocolate. The drink was in small clear containers with a lever switch in front to pour into cups. It did not taste as if it had any alcohol, the student claims in the affidavit, so she determined it was safe to drink.

The last thing she remembered was dancing with her friends—including her roommate—before she woke up the next afternoon in her own room, wearing a t-shirt she did not recognize without a bra or underwear. The leggings she had been wearing the night before were torn on the floor next to her bed.

The female student's phone appeared to be broken, so she checked her computer to see if she had received any text messages the night before.

At 1:30 a.m. she had received a text from an unknown number reading, "YO." A second text from the same number saying, "HA HA.. YOU WENT BACK WITH A KID I KNOW...YOU'RE SCREWED!!" according to the affidavit.

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The warrants released this week show the unknown number to belong to Student #2, who apparently sent the texts after she refused to accompany him to his bedroom.

Though the female student's phone initially seemed to be broken, it was functioning by the afternoon of Sunday, Jan. 10. In collaboration with DPD, she was able to use her phone to trace her location and discovered that she had been to a second location between the party Friday night and her dorm room Saturday morning.

From 11:02 p.m. Friday to 3:23 a.m. Saturday, she was at ADPhi's house on West Chapel Hill Street. From 3:31 a.m. to 4:05 a.m., she was on South LaSalle Street.

She had no memory of being anywhere on South LaSalle, nor does she know anyone who lives on the street, according to the affidavit.

From 4:15 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. Saturday, she was in the vicinity of her dormitory.

The investigation

The female student had a rape kit done Saturday afternoon, and DPD filed a search warrant for the ADPhi residence Sunday in a second-degree rape investigation.

After seeing the text messages from the unknown number on the female student's phone, DPD identified the number as belonging to Student #2 and contacted him. He visited the police station Sunday night, bringing along a purse that he said had been found behind the ADPhi house and belonged to the female student.

He told police that he did not know who the female student had left the party with and was unsure of the name of the "kid" he referred to in his text messages.

Sunday night, however, texts from the female student's roommate brought new information to the investigation. Per the affidavit, the student's roommate is dating a freshman pledge of ADPhi, hereafter referred to as Student #3. From him, the roommate learned the name of the senior ADPhi member—Student #1—whom he believed had left the party with the female student.

Monday afternoon, DPD returned to Student #2 and questioned him again on the identity of the fraternity member who had allegedly left the party with the female student. Student #2 then confirmed that he did in fact know the student and identified him as Student #1.

Upon further investigation, DPD learned that Student #1 lives in an apartment on South LaSalle Street, in the vicinity of where the female student's phone placed her early Saturday morning. Monday evening, DPD filed a warrant to search Student #1's apartment, car and electronic records, in addition to collecting a DNA sample.

Student #1 complied with DPD and gave a sample of his DNA. Police examined his laptop, phone, hard drive, bedding and a condom wrapper found behind his bed.

In his phone records, police found the following exchange of text messages and calls with a freshman ADPhi pledge, hereafter referred to as Student #4.

4:03 a.m.—Student #1 calls Student #4

4:06 a.m.—Student #4 texts Student #1, "are you ok? if you need me to come down I can make sure she gets into her room"

4:09 a.m.—Student #4 texts Student #1 with the female student's name, followed by the name of an additional freshman ADPhi pledge (hereafter referred to as Student #5) and "he is in [female student's dorm]"

There are then "a few more texts and calls" between Student #4 and Student #1, according to the police affidavit. The affidavit lists one more exchange between the two:

Phone records reveal that Student #1 called a senior member of the fraternity, hereafter referred to as Student #6, three times between 4:30 a.m. and 4:45 a.m.

Police searched the phone numbers of all six students affiliated with the fraternity—the three senior members and the three freshman pledges—and collected DNA from all six as well.

The phone records of the female student's roommate were also searched.

The investigation is ongoing. ADPhi remains suspended by the University, Michael Schoenfeld, vice president of government relations and public affairs, confirmed Friday.

The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life declined to comment.

Alpha Delta Phi's national organization did not immediately respond to telephone requests for comment.

Second-degree rape, per North Carolina law, occurs when one individual engages in vaginal intercourse with another by force and against their will, or when someone engages in vaginal intercourse with someone who is mentally disabled, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless, and the person performing the act knows or should reasonably know of this status.

These allegations come slightly over a year after Alpha Delta Phi was permitted to Duke's Interfraternity Council. In Fall 2013, the fraternity was officially recognized by the University after previously being denied recognition. The chapter has been a part of the national Alpha Delta Phi organization since 2006.

The 2013 announcement came after a long history of changes for Duke's Alpha Delta Phi. The group was originally chartered on Duke’s campus as Sigma Alpha Epsilon. SAE, however, was expelled from the national fraternity in 2002 for violating rules regarding risk management, such as hazing and illegal alcohol use. As a consequence, the chapter was immediately disaffiliated from Duke.

After moving off campus, the fraternity assumed the name Delta Phi Alpha. Four years later, the fraternity was adopted by Alpha Delta Phi as part of the national organization’s effort to expand to more elite institutions. SAE was recolonized in 2008 with an entirely new set of members.